MoPH organises training workshop on occupational health basic services
Doha: The Ministry of Public Health recently organized a training program for practitioners and other specialty doctors on occupational health basic services, at Itqan Training Center.
The training program aims to enhance the competence of occupational health professionals and doctors working in primary health care, maintain the concept of highest quality of health and safety in the workplace, and understand the role of doctors in managing and preventing the implications of occupational diseases and incidents related to the environment.
The two-day training program was delivered by several experts and consultants in the field of occupational health and occupational medicine. As many as 36 practitioners and other specialty doctors from the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC), Qatar Red Crescent Worker Centers, other state institutions and corporate doctors were trained on basic occupational health services.
During the training program, lectures were given and ways of dealing with clinical cases were provided to enhance the knowledge and skills of participants about work-related diseases, increase the ability to integrate the patient's professional history with the history of the disease and clinical examination, understand the importance and acquire the skills necessary to investigate the performance of occupational health and other examinations as necessary, and understand the role of the doctor in managing the occupational consequences due to the diseases and injuries such as job change and rehabilitation.
At the opening of the training program, Dr. Salah Al Yafei, Acting Director of Health Promotion and Non-Communicable Diseases at the Ministry of Public Health, commended the cooperation between the Ministry of Public Health and the concerned authorities in the country for organizing the program, which was delivered by 6 experts and consultants in occupational health from Qatar Energy Foundation, Hamad Medical Corporation and Qatar Airways.
Dr. Salah Al-Yafei pointed out that workers in many countries are exposed to dealing with hazardous manufacturing materials, pointing out the urgent need to mitigate these risks and that there are several countries moving towards transforming their health system based on the principles and values of primary health care to provide services and achieve maximum benefit at a lower cost while ensuring high quality.
He stressed the importance of the role of the doctors participating in the training program who will contribute to improving the occupational health services provided, pointing out that the health sector in the State of Qatar looks forward to a strong and effective partnership between the government and private sectors in this field.
For his part, Dr. Mohammed Ali Al-Hajjaj, Head of the Occupational Health Department at the Ministry of Public Health, pointed out that the training program completes the training of doctors working in primary health care. A group of practitioners and other specialty doctors have been trained during the past years from different entities in the country as a part of the work plan to train medical staff in the field of occupational health services, stressing that the Ministry of Public Health is currently preparing a 10-day integrated training program in the same field in cooperation with the World Health Organization.
Dr. Mohammed Al-Hajjaj pointed out that the Ministry of Public Health seeks through the training program to achieve the maximum outputs of the Occupational Health Project within the Qatar Public Health Strategy 2017-2022, as well as the priority of (health and safe workers) within the National Health Strategy 2018-2022 , in addition to transferring and enhancing the level of knowledge of occupational health and occupational medicine to primary health care doctors in order to support and improve occupational health practices and service delivery, as this is reflected in the increase in medical practices to cover the shortage of professionals in the field of occupational health, particularly primary health care doctors.
